Firefighter killed, 3 injured at Wisconsin transit station

APPLETON, Wis. | A firefighter responding to a medical emergency was killed in a shooting at a Wisconsin bus station that left a police officer and two others injured, officials said.

The shooting happened after police and firefighters responded to a medical emergency around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Valley Transit in downtown Appleton, fire and police officials said. Appleton Officer Meghan Cash said there was no ongoing threat to the community, but she didn’t say if anyone was in custody.

Tori Mourning lives across the street from the transit center and heard the gunfire.

“I looked up. I heard a pow and I thought it was the lawnmower firing. I heard it again. I looked up because you could see the bus stop from my bedroom window, looked at the tree. I saw the guy shoot a female and she went down. And another shot was fired and there was another male and he went down and I saw the shooter flee,” Mourning told WBAY-TV.

In this Wednesday, May 15, 2019 photo, people wait as authorities investigate the scene of a shooting at the Valley Transit Center in Appleton, Wis. A firefighter responding to a medical emergency was killed in the shooting at a Wisconsin bus station that left several others injured, officials said. (Dan Powers/The Post-Crescent via AP)

In this Wednesday, May 15, 2019 photo, authorities investigate the scene of a shooting at the Valley Transit Center in Appleton, Wis. A firefighter responding to a medical emergency was killed in the shooting at a Wisconsin bus station that left several others injured, officials said. (Dan Powers/The Post-Crescent via AP)

In this Wednesday, May 15, 2019 photo, authorities investigate the scene of a shooting at the Valley Transit Center in Appleton, Wis. A firefighter responding to a medical emergency was killed in the shooting at a Wisconsin bus station that left several others injured, officials said. (Dan Powers/The Post-Crescent via AP)

Mourning said she yelled for her children as soon as she realized shots were fired.

“I screamed through my house that those are gunfire and everyone get down,” Mourning said, “So I ran, and by the time I got to the top of my house to the bottom my kids all ducked down.”

One of the other people shot was an Appleton police officer who is recovering at a local hospital, authorities said. Representatives of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association responded to the scene, executive director Jim Palmer said.

The shooting happened on Peace Officers Memorial Day which honor officers who have died or been injured while working.

“It brings home the dangerous nature of the jobs that our officers are expected to do,” Palmer said.

A long line of emergency vehicles escorted the firefighter’s body from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office in Milwaukee, where an autopsy was done, back to Appleton Thursday.

Police on motorcycles led the procession as it made its way north about 120 miles on Interstate 41. Firefighters with their truck lights flashing positioned themselves on interstate overpasses as the procession passed by on the way to an Appleton funeral home.

Firefighters stood silently at the medical examiner’s office as the procession began, just as they had when the body arrived in a flag-draped casket Wednesday overnight.

Gov. Tony Evers sent his condolences Thursday to the family and colleagues of the firefighter.

In a statement released Thursday on Twitter, Evers said he and his wife, Kathy, “send our deepest sympathies to the family, friends (and) colleagues of the firefighter who lost their life last night.”

“We stand with our brave first responders … as they mourn this loss,” Evers said.

Fire officials say funeral arrangements for the firefighter, a 14-year veteran of the department, are pending and that the investigation into the incident is ongoing.